Oakdale drunk driver ‘robbed us of everything,’ mother of late teen says after sentencing

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
Updated ·5 min read
18

Mikala Jean Ness asked a Hennepin County judge to “grant me mercy” on Tuesday for driving drunk in Bloomington and hitting and killing 17-year-old Donald Gayton Jr. and severely injuring his 14-year-old sister, Mya, last January.

Ness, of Oakdale, who drove away from the scene of the crash, asked Judge Julie Allyn before receiving her sentence “to see the person I was before this and the person I can become, and see that my actions were not a reflection of my true character.”

In July, Ness pleaded guilty to the three charges against her: two counts of vehicular homicide, and one count of criminal vehicular operation. There was no plea deal, and the 28-year-old faced a guideline prison sentence of between 41 and 57 months.

Allyn went on to sentence Ness to 32 months in prison on two counts, saying, “I do see that you have immense remorsefulness for your actions.”

Prosecutor Kali Gardner had asked Allyn to hand down a guideline sentence, saying that Ness “had a choice, and also had multiple colleagues that were trying to get her an Uber so she did not drive.”

Meanwhile, Ness’ attorney, Stephen Foertsch, had asked Allyn for a downward departure to probation, noting her “regret and acceptance of responsibility.” Foertsch said Ness has no prior convictions and is amenable to probation, noting she has been on electronic home monitoring for the past eight months without incident.

Afterward, outside the courthouse, Donald and Mya’s mother, Marsha Fugett, said the sentence was not enough.

“I do feel sorry for your kid,” she said, referring to Ness’ 2-year-old daughter. “But your child will see you again. I will never see mine.”

License plate left behind

Around 6 p.m. on Jan. 27, after buying candy at the Bloomington Walmart, Donald and Mya began the walk back to their Richfield apartment.

Mya told police the sidewalk along 78th Street was covered with snow, so the siblings walked on the south side of eastbound 78th Street, a two-lane, one-way road.

As they tried to cross to the north side on the road, Ness struck the siblings and drove away.

A woman told officers she was driving east on 78th Street in the right lane and saw a white Toyota Corolla speed past her in the left lane. She said she saw a male and a female walking on 78th Street, then heard a “loud thud” and saw someone “flying in the air,” the criminal complaint states.

The Corolla swerved to the right, then continued on 78th and south on 12th Avenue. On the north side of 78th Street, officers found a plastic car part with an attached license plate. It was registered to Ness.

Officers soon learned Ness had crashed into a median near the Mall of America. They found her badly damaged Corolla on a hill on the southeast corner of Killebrew Drive near the entrance to a TGI Fridays restaurant.

The 911 caller who saw that crash told officers that a woman got out of her Corolla and walked up to his car. He said he let her inside his car to stay warm, and that she cried and said she hit two people and killed somebody.

Ness told officers that she was coming from a work holiday party, but couldn’t remember where. She had slurred speech and officers could smell alcohol on her breath. Officers asked her if she remembered hitting something at 12th Avenue near American Boulevard and she said, “I feel like I did, but I don’t know,” the complaint states.

Ness performed poorly on field-sobriety tests, and a preliminary breath test showed her blood-alcohol content was 0.13 percent. When told that she was under arrest for driving under the influence, Ness responded, “I know,” the complaint states.

Investigators went to Hennepin County Medical Center to try to speak with the teens. Donald was unconscious with serious head trauma. Mya was in a neck brace and medicated, but was able to speak with an investigator. She said they were hit when they tried to cross to the north side, and that she did not hear skidding or a car horn beforehand.

Donald died two days later.

‘The world will miss him’

James Austin, a youth outreach associate at TreeHouse, said in court that Donald had been a student in his program, which is run out of a Bloomington church, since the sixth grade and was “an active member until the day he passed away.” Donald was an “honest kid. I never had problems with him, and he never got in trouble. The world will miss him,” Austin said.

Fugett wept during much of the sentencing. She asked a victim advocate to read her statement. “Donald is my fourth child, my firstborn son,” the statement read. “He was my everything.”

Junior, as he was called, “always treated people how he wanted to be treated. Junior made you smile,” the statement read. “Junior wanted to graduate from high school and wanted to be a successful mechanic.”

Ness kept her head in her hand during much of the sentencing, and at times sobbed.

“I am so, so sorry for the mournful, inexcusable decision I made to drive under the influence that night,” she said in her tear-filled statement. “I am terribly sorry for the pain I caused you, a pain no family should have to endure.”

Ness looked back at her family and friends as she was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

Mya, who is now 15, wore her Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps uniform to the sentencing. She joined the program in August. She and Donald had talked about joining the Army together and going to college. “We were going to do it together, but … so I decided to do it for him,” she said. “It’s not the Army, but it’s the closest thing to it.”

Fugett, who has since moved the family to Illinois, said her son’s younger brothers “no longer have an older brother to show them how to be a young man, how to join sports, how to date. They don’t have that anymore. (Ness) robbed us of everything.”

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